Simple SearchA simple search is for a single keyword such as portrait or museum. The search will try to locate any items containing the entered word as a single word, or as part of a larger word. So in the example, "portrait" will also return items that contain "portraiture" and "museum" will also return items that contain "museums."

The search is case insensitive so "portrait," "Portrait," and "PORTRAIT" will all return items that contain "portrait," "Portrait," or "PORTRAIT."Multiple WordsThere are two types of multiple word searches: ANY and STRING.

ANY is used for finding multiple matches. The keywords entered can be separated by spaces or commas. That is, entering self portrait or self, portrait will return any items that contain EITHER "self" or "portrait." It increases the scope of the search and will generally return more items.

STRING can be used to refine a search and return fewer items. That is, entering "self portrait" surrounded by quotes will return only those items that contain the string "self portrait" exactly as entered. (Note: use only regular double quotes to surround the search keywords.)More ComplexThe ANY and STRING searches can be combined to create more complex searches.

For example entering "self portrait", museum or museum "self portrait" will return any items that contain either "museum" or the string "self portrait".AdvancedAdvanced searching is a special way to combine multiple words or strings.

There are two joining operators; either "+" or "–."

"+" means that the searched item must contain both the first word, or string and the second word or string. For example entering portrait + museum or portrait+museum for the keywords will return only those items that contain both the words "portrait" or "museum" somewhere in their information. The two words or strings do not have to be next to each other.

"–" means that the searched item must contain the first word, or string but not the second word or string. For example entering portrait - museum or portrait-museum for the keywords will return only those items that contain the word "portrait" somewhere in their information, but do not contain the word "museum" anywhere in their information.

These can also be combined with the other types of searches. For example, entering portrait+man-women-woman for the keywords will return all items that contain the word "portrait," and the word "man," but not the word "woman or women." That is, it will return all male portraits, but no female portraits.CautionThe more complex the search, the fewer items the search will return. It is possible it will return no matching items. Try removing some of the search keyword combinations that you entered to see if you get results.

On the other hand, if your search returns more items than you are interested in, try adding more refinement to your keyword search to reduce the number of items returned.